Send out the clowns

Coming back, people are telling me about the conference I missed. One or two are quite excited. Some of the things they tell me they enjoyed turn out to be precisely the reasons why I didn’t want to go, especially big halls full of people and lots of mealtime discussions. I was very happy with my own company, reading, tai chi on the grass, watching the birds. Thank you Sheldon.

There is one point I must make, because it seems that it is at this point that I find myself most at odds with, and distanced from, my colleagues. One of the guests at the conference was Roly Bain, the Holy Fool. Roly has been clowning for years, and has developed a very particular ministry. He’s involved in the annual clowns service that still, I think, takes place in one of the London City churches. And lots of people love him. But unfortunately, and no disrespect Roly, but I can’t take it. I sort of got “Godspell” (I saw the original London production with David Essex and Jeremy Irons several times with various church youth groups). I can see what he’s trying to do and good luck to him and he reaches a lot of people. But I don’t do clowns. Or circuses generally. Or funfairs, Disney or anything similar. Sorry. Just not for me. And having seen Roly in action at conferences in the past, I had to duck out. There, I’ve said it now.